James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Drew Struzan’s movie posters from the last three decades have defined the look of modern American cinema. And with this new decade beginning, his influence on hand-drawn posters is still unmistakable.

A new 95-minute DVD video shows exactly how he creates his classic poster images. Using the Hellboy poster as a case study, he demonstrates each of the steps.

The footage includes plenty of close-ups, lively editing, and Struzan’s voice-over explaining his thinking with every step:

1. Black and white presentation comps to show the client.2. Projecting the photo reference onto the illustration board.3. Refining the graphite drawing on a light gray-toned gessoed board.4. Painting in the black shapes with acrylic.5. Cutting a quick frisket from tracing paper.5. Splattering textures with acrylic using a typewriter-cleaning brush.6. Airbrushing transparent color over all the areas.7. Modeling and defining the light areas of the forms in Prismacolors.

It ends with a one-minute time lapse montage of stills showing all the steps, as Struzan says: “Two days to draw, one day to paint, and two days to render it out.”

Along the way, he also shares valuable insights into his aesthetics: reserving values to save the ultimate light and dark punch, how to make men and women even more attractive, a tasteful approach to edges, and cultivating a professional attitude.

Ok Gurney Journey is informing me of too many wonderful things I have to have and do! I shudder to do the mental calculations for the sum total spent.....But hey it's a New Year! So I can start the tally anew.

just out of curiosity, and just plain noseyness...what made you decide to post this for drew? did he approach you? are you guys buddies...and if so thats an amazing friend to have! or did you buy the dvd and think it was so good that everyone should know.....haha

sorry to be nosey, maybe i'm just hoping that you guys are buddies and there will soon be a HUGE Gurney Struzan project coming out!! oh one can hope cant he!!

Wow, I want to buy it. However, it's sad that in this particular poster his depiction of Selma Blair didn't went well at all. She looks like a guy. And it's not only the weird haircut to blame (I think that actresses should be able to get legal protection against such things), but her face, barely looks like her.

Other than that, anyway, it's very interesting. I didn't even remember he uses airbrush that much, I thought he used it only for some sort of lighting effects, more or less like Alex Ross (from comics), I think. I think it's because it's so different than typical super-smooth airbrush art, much more texturized.

100 bucks, plus transport, and in my case, taxation, and probably even taxation over transport itself. I'm not going to see it so soon. I'll keep consoling me with the fact that Selma Blair does not look right in that piece. -_-

GooGoo, no, I haven't met Drew, but the producers generously sent me a copy of the DVD to look at. I normally don't do reviews on GJ, but I thought information about Struzan's process would interest the readers, and I believe as behind-the-scenes videos go, this was particularly well done.

Mr. Gurney You're Right! I greatly appreciate finding out about these things, I don't always have the time to stalk... Ahem... follow all my favorite Artists out there, so I probably would have missed out on getting this DVD had you not mentioned it. I will admit I was hoping you'd get some kick back for your effort though, but I suppose it's even better unbiased.

Thank you for telling me about this video. I ordered it, and it no way disappoints. That has to be one of the best how to art dvds I own. I like too that everything is at an accelerated pace, when you are on a deadline you have to get things done. Also, there are some great "Tricks" of the trade in there as well.

I am still trying to incorporate many of the ideas in Creative Realism into my work. Now, I have Drew's inspiration to deal with as well.